Research Interests

My research interests primarily lie with the interaction of sedimentological and biological processes. I am interested in animal-substrate interactions in ancient and modern continental (or non-marine) environments. These interactions are preserved in the fossil record as trace fossils. Trace fossils provide an in situ record of ancient biodiversity, ecology, and environment. The study of ichnofossils, therefore, provides vital information for accurate paleoenvironmental reconstructions. As sensitive indicators of environmental and climatic change, ichnofossils are also useful for detailed sequence stratigraphic analysis.

In my research, I interpret the paleoenvironmental, paleoclimatic, and paleoecological significance of paleosols and ichnofossils preserved in the geologic record. This involves not only the study of paleosols and continental trace fossils throughout geologic time but also the experimental study of burrowing behaviors of extant terrestrial annelids, arthropods, amphibians, and reptiles. My current research projects involve the study of the influence of climate changes on ancient soils and soil ecosystems including those of the Pennsylvanian of southeast Ohio, Permian of eastern Kansas, and the Eocene to Miocene of Colorado and Wyoming.

*Dzenowski, N., Hembree, D.I., 2012. Examining local climate variability in the Late Pennsylvanian through paleosols: an example from the Lower Conemaugh Group of southeastern Ohio. Geosciences v. 2, p. 260-276.

Hembree, D.I., Hasiotis, S.T., 2007. Paleosols and ichnofossils of the White River Formation of Colorado: insight into soil ecosystems of the North American Midcontinent during the Eocene-Oligocene transition. Palaios, v. 22, p. 123-142.

Recent Advisee Masters Theses

Nicole Dzenowski, 2012. The neoichnology of two Ambystomatid salamanders, Pennsylvanian paleosols, and their use in paleoenvironmental, paleoecological, and paleoclimatic interpretations. M.S. Thesis, Ohio University.

Bart Rasor, 2010. Taphonomy and Sedimentology of a Modern Nautilus Deposit in a Nearshore Paleoenvironment. B.S. Thesis, Ohio University.

Krista Smilek, 2009. Using ichnology and sedimentology to determine paleoenvironmental and paleoecological conditions of a shallow water marine depositional environment: case studies from the Pennsylvanian Ames Limestone and modern holothurians. M.S. Thesis, Ohio University.